SimpleMars

organic cotton goods

2006-10-30T13:20:00.000-08:00

Liv organic cotton goods are soft luxurious nad affordable and they have a huge range of organic clothing.

Grubenmann, Hans Ulrich; And Grubenmann, Johannes

2005-04-04T02:59:00.000-07:00

Swiss carpenters and bridge builders whose bridge (1758) over the Limmat River at the town of Wettingen, near Zürich, is believed to be the first timber bridge to employ a true arch in its design. The brothers' ingenious combination of the arch and truss principles made it possible to construct longer and better timber bridges

Marzuq

2005-04-03T13:20:00.000-07:00

Also spelled Murzuk, oasis, southwestern Libya. It lies on the northern edge of the Sahra' Marzuq (“Sea of Sand”). An ancient assembly place for caravans to Lake Chad and the Niger River, it was the traditional capital of the Fezzan province (16th–19th century) and a centre of the Arab slave and arms trade. Once called the “Paris of the Desert,” it was a base for Saharan explorers, including Frederick Hornemann

Hafiz Ibrahim, Muhammad

2005-04-03T06:09:00.000-07:00

Hafiz was a lawyer and later a lieutenant in the Egyptian army, from which he retired in 1901. During the next 10 years he wrote his well-known odes denouncing imperialism and wrote his nationalistic poems. His superb skill as a reciter of poetry won him a prominent place in society, and he became director of literature

Xerox Parc

2005-04-02T17:45:00.000-08:00

An excellent source on PARC's history is Michael Hiltzick, Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age (1999).

Kornberg, Arthur

2005-04-02T15:45:00.000-08:00

At the U.S. National Institutes of Health,

Gable, Clark

2005-04-01T14:21:00.000-08:00

The only son of an itinerant oil-field worker, Gable embarked on an acting career while in his early 20s

Ha Long Bay

2005-03-31T13:32:00.000-08:00

Vietnamese Vinh Ha Long (“Where the Dragon Descends to the Sea”),

Triad

2005-03-30T20:35:00.000-08:00

In chemistry, any of several sets of three chemically similar elements, the atomic weight of one of which is approximately equal to the mean of the atomic weights of the other two. Such triads—including chlorine-bromine-iodine, calcium-strontium-barium, and sulfur-selenium-tellurium—were noted by the German chemist J.W. Döbereiner between 1817 and 1829. The triad was the earliest

Moses, Assumption Of

2005-03-30T10:13:00.000-08:00

A pseudepigraphal work (not in any biblical canon), a prophecy of the future relating to Israel, put into the mouth of Moses and addressed to Joshua just before the great lawgiver died. Using Moses' predictions and instructions to Joshua as a framework, the book's unknown author sets forth a brief history of Israel from Moses to the messianic age as viewed in apocalyptic

Domei

2005-03-29T17:09:00.000-08:00

Domei was formed in 1964 by a merger of three politically moderate federations that opposed the leftist stance of the larger and more militant union Sohyo. Unlike the majority of Sohyo members, who were public employees, most Domei members worked for private-sector firms. Domei was a supporter of the Democratic

Arts, Central Asian, Khitans

2005-03-29T03:28:00.000-08:00

The figural style is believed to have been transmitted to the Mongols by the Khitans when the latter were living on the middle reaches of the Yenisey. The wealth of the Khitan princes is reflected in the furnishings of burial mounds discovered at Kopeni, some 200 miles (300 kilometres) to the south of Krasnoyarsk. Dating from the 7th to 8th century, these mounds were similar in

Danaus

2005-03-28T16:10:00.000-08:00

In Greek legend, son of Belus, king of Egypt, and twin brother of Aegyptus. Driven out of Egypt by his brother, he fled with his 50 daughters (the Danaïds) to Argos, where he became king. Soon thereafter the 50 sons of Aegyptus arrived in Argos, and Danaus was forced to consent to their marriage with his daughters. Danaus, however, commanded each daughter to slay her husband on the

Lismore

2005-03-27T19:41:00.000-08:00

City, northeastern New South Wales, Australia, on the north arm of the Richmond River. It is situated between rainforest and sea, 18 miles (29 km) inland from the Pacific Ocean, and has its outport at Ballina. Ward Stephens first settled the site in 1843; it was later occupied by William Wilson and named by him, probably for the Scottish island of Lismore. It is a farm processing centre

Ibn Kathir

2005-03-27T05:38:00.000-08:00

Ibn Kathir was educated in Damascus and upon completion of his studies obtained his first official appointment in 1341, when he joined an inquisitorial commission formed to determine

Koguryo Style

2005-03-26T09:07:00.000-08:00

Korean visual-arts style characteristic of the Koguryo kingdom (37 BC–AD 668) of the Three Kingdoms period. The Koguryo were a horse-riding northern people, and their art was powered by the forceful spirit of a hunter-warrior tribe. Their fresco paintings on the walls of tombs are characterized by movement and emotion rather than formal beauty and decorative visual effect. Outlines

Steiger, Niklaus Friedrich Von

2005-03-25T19:35:00.000-08:00

From a Bernese patrician family, Steiger was dispatched to Halle in Germany and Utrecht, Neth., for his education, eventually returning to Bern in 1754. Thereafter, he held several minor

Andover

2005-03-25T19:07:00.000-08:00

Textile mills were established in Andover in 1813, and woolen goods are still produced. Andover is a centre for business

Oerter, Al

2005-03-24T20:22:00.000-08:00

In full Alfred Oerter American discus thrower who won four consecutive Olympic gold medals (1956, 1960, 1964, and 1968), setting an Olympic record each time. During his career he set new world records four times (1962–64). He was the first to throw the discus more than 200 feet with his first world record of 61.10 metres (200 feet 5 inches). His best throw in setting a world record was 62.94 metres

Omdurman

2005-03-23T11:11:00.000-08:00

Arabic Umm Durman, one of the Three Towns (with Khartoum and Khartoum North), east-central Sudan. Situated on the left bank of the main Nile River just below the confluence of the Blue and White Niles, Omdurman was an insignificant riverine village until the victory of Muhammad Ahmad, known as al-Mahdi, over the British in 1885. Al-Mahdi and his successor, the caliph 'Abd Allah, made it their capital,

Lochner, Stefan

2005-03-23T08:28:00.000-08:00

Little is known of his early life, but he is thought to have studied in the Netherlands, possibly under Robert Campin (tentatively identified with the

Cyrus Ii

2005-03-23T04:18:00.000-08:00

Byname Cyrus The Great conqueror who founded the Achaemenian empire, centred on Persia and comprising the Near East from the Aegean Sea eastward to the Indus River. He is also remembered in the Cyrus legend—first recorded by Xenophon, Greek soldier and author, in his Cyropaedia—as a tolerant and ideal monarch who was called the father of his people by the

Sayat-nova

2005-03-20T21:05:00.000-08:00

Sayat-Nova worked first as a weaver and later (1750–65) became the court minstrel of Irakli II of Georgia. In 1770 he entered a monastery in Haghbat, and he was martyred by the Persian invaders of Georgia. Most of his extant songs are in Azeri Turkish; the rest are in Armenian and Georgian.

Shafi'iyah

2005-03-20T15:58:00.000-08:00

Also called Madhhab Shafi'i , English Shafiites in Islam, one of the four Sunni schools of religious law, derived from the teachings of Abu 'Abd Allah ash-Shafi'i (767–820). This legal school (madhhab) stabilized the bases of Islamic legal theory, admitting the validity of both divine will and human speculation. Rejecting provincial dependence on the living sunnah (traditional community practice) as the source of precedent, the Shafiites

Paul V

2005-03-20T11:51:00.000-08:00

One of his first acts was to excommunicate the recalcitrant

Kahn, Albert

2005-03-19T13:58:00.000-08:00

Kahn's father, a rabbi, brought his family to the United States in 1881. Kahn had little schooling but was taken on

Chancellorsville, Battle Of

2005-03-19T03:20:00.000-08:00

(May 1–5, 1863), in the American Civil War, bloody assault by the Union army in Virginia that failed to encircle and destroy the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia. Following the “horror of Fredericksburg” (December 13, 1862), the Confederate army of General Robert E. Lee and the Union force under General Joseph Hooker had spent the winter facing each other across the Rappahannock River

Power

2005-03-18T08:01:00.000-08:00

In science and engineering, time rate of doing work or delivering energy, expressible as the amount of work done W, or energy transferred, divided by the time interval t—or W/t. A given amount of work can be done by a low-powered motor in a long time or by a high-powered motor in a short time. Units of power are those of work (or energy) per unit time, such as foot-pounds per minute,

Bandar-e 'abbas

2005-03-18T07:48:00.000-08:00

Bandar-e 'Abb

Augrabies Falls

2005-03-17T07:53:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Aughrabies Falls, series of separately channeled cataracts and rapids on the Orange River in arid Northern Cape province, South Africa. The falls, which form the central feature of Augrabies Falls National Park (established in 1966), occur where the Orange River leaves a plateau formation of resistant granite. The main fall of water is 305 feet (93 m); and the total drop is about 625 feet (191 m). At the bottom

Xerox Corporation

2005-03-16T23:28:00.000-08:00

The company was founded in 1906 as Haloid Company, changed its name to Haloid Xerox Company in 1958, and to Xerox Corporation in 1961. In 1960 Xerox first marketed the 914 xerographic copier; the process, which made photographic copies onto plain, uncoated paper, had been known

Neuropteran

2005-03-16T21:01:00.000-08:00

All three orders may have evolved from an early mecopteran (scorpionfly) ancestral stem, prior to the Trichoptera–Lepidoptera offshoot (see section on Trichoptera). Carnivorous insects of varied structure and habit, both freshwater and terrestrial members of the three orders, are widely distributed with the exception of the snakeflies (which are confined to the

Switzerland, Trade and finance

2005-03-16T00:04:00.000-08:00

Switzerland must export finished products in order to pay for the imports of raw materials, oil, foodstuffs, and manufactured goods. The Swiss have traditionally been among the forerunners in liberalizing and facilitating international trade. The geographic distribution of the country's trade shows dependence on western Europe and especially on the EC countries.

çatalhüyük

2005-03-15T22:58:00.000-08:00

Major Neolithic site in the Middle East, located near Konya in south-central Turkey. Excavations (1961–65) by the British archaeologist James Mellaart have shown that Anatolia in Neolithic times was the centre of an advanced culture. The earliest building period at Çatalhüyük is tentatively dated to about 6700 BC and the latest to about 5650 BC. The inhabitants lived in rectangular mud-brick

Kuwait

2005-03-15T14:29:00.000-08:00

Prior to the terrorist attacks in New York City and near Washington, D.C., on Sept. 11, 2001, strength in oil prices had led economic analysts to predict another year of prosperity for Kuwait. The strong oil market had boosted gross domestic product growth in the country for a second year in a row. Following September 11, however, slumping demand in Kuwait's principal markets, Asia

Carnivore

2005-03-14T13:53:00.000-08:00

Any member of the order Carnivora, literally “meat eaters.” The order includes 10 families of living mammals: Canidae (dogs, wolves, jackals, and foxes), Ursidae (bears), Procyonidae (raccoons), Mustelidae (skunks, mink, weasels, badgers, and otters), Viverridae (civets and mongooses), Hyaenidae (hyenas), Felidae (cats), Otariidae (eared seals), Odobenidae (walrus), and Phocidae (earless seals).

Shellfish Poisoning

2005-03-14T04:24:00.000-08:00

Illness in humans resulting from the eating of certain mussels and clams. The source of the poison has been traced to the plankton upon which shellfish feed during parts of the year. Symptoms often begin within 10 minutes after eating the shellfish. Initially, there is tingling and numbness about the lips and prickly feelings in the fingertips. The throat is often dry.

La Guma, Alex

2005-03-13T18:50:00.000-08:00

La Guma was reared in a family active in the black liberation movement.

Light Rail Transit

2005-03-13T13:37:00.000-08:00

System of railways usually powered by overhead electrical wires and used for medium-capacity local transportation in metropolitan areas. Light rail vehicles (LRVs) are a technological outgrowth of streetcars (trams). Light rail transit lines are more segregated from street traffic than are tramways (particularly in congested urban areas) but less so than are

Leucothea

2005-03-13T13:22:00.000-08:00

(Greek: White Goddess [of the Foam]), in Greek mythology, a sea goddess first mentioned in Homer's Odyssey, in which she rescued the Greek hero Odysseus from drowning. She was customarily identified with Ino, daughter of the Phoenician Cadmus; because she cared for the infant god Dionysus, the goddess Hera drove Ino (or her husband, Athamas) mad so that she and her son, Melicertes,

Alkylation

2005-03-13T13:05:00.000-08:00

In petroleum refining, chemical process in which light, gaseous hydrocarbons are combined to produce high-octane components of gasoline. The light hydrocarbons consist of olefins such as propylene and butylene and isoparaffins such as isobutane. These compounds are fed into a reactor, where, under the influence of a sulfuric-acid or hydrofluoric-acid catalyst,

Jazirah, Al-

2005-03-11T09:39:00.000-08:00

Al-Jazirah is the site

Kachchh, Gulf Of

2005-03-11T09:07:00.000-08:00

Kachchh also spelled Kutch, Cutch , or Kachh northeastern arm of the Arabian Sea, extending between the Rann of Kachchh (a salt waste) and the Kathiawar Peninsula of west-central India. Reaching eastward for some 110 miles (180 km), the gulf varies in width from 10 to 40 miles (16 to 65 km). It is rimmed with mudflats, and many small islands rise from its waters. The port at the entrance to the gulf is Okha; other ports include Mandvi, Bedi, and

Requesens Y Zúñiga, Luis De

2005-03-10T22:31:00.000-08:00

Requesens's early career was as a government official

Durham

2005-03-10T19:31:00.000-08:00

City, seat (1881) of Durham county, north-central North Carolina, U.S. It is situated about 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Chapel Hill and 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Raleigh, the three cities forming one of the state's major urban areas—the Research Triangle. The first settlement (about 1750) in what is now Durham was called Prattsburg for William Pratt, a landowner. When Pratt refused to give land

Porirua

2005-03-09T03:25:00.000-08:00

City, Wellington local government region, southern North Island, New Zealand. It is located about 13 miles (21 km) north of Wellington city, at the head of Porirua Harbour. The earliest inhabitants were aboriginal moa hunters in the 12th century. European whalers and traders occupied nearby Mana Island from 1832 to 1834, and in 1836 a permanent whaling station was built near Porirua. The city

Powell, Lewis F. Jr.

2005-03-08T21:03:00.000-08:00

Powell graduated from Washington and Lee University, Lexington, Virginia, in 1929 and obtained his law degree from that institution in 1931. He then earned a master's degree in law from the Harvard Law School in 1932 and joined a Richmond law firm that same year. In 1938 he was made partner in

Sudan, The, Education

2005-03-08T16:52:00.000-08:00

A modern educational system was established in The Sudan in the 1970s when the government reorganized a haphazard system of schools inherited from the British colonial government. In the Muslim areas of the north, boys were long instructed in religious subjects according to traditional methods. Primary education was begun by the British in the northern Sudan after

Aerosmith

2005-03-08T06:00:00.000-08:00

American heavy metal band. One of the biggest arena-rock attractions of the late 1970s, Aerosmith became even more popular with its career revival in the mid-1980s. Principal members were Steven Tyler (byname of Steven Tallarico; b. March 26, 1948, New York, New York, U.S.), Joe Perry (b. September 10, 1950, Boston, Massachusetts), Brad Whitford (b. February 23, 1952, Winchester, Massachusetts), Tom Hamilton (b. December

Ghaghara River

2005-03-07T07:36:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Gogra, Ghaghra , or Ghagra , Nepali Kauriala major left-bank tributary of the Ganges River, rising as the Karnali River (Chinese: K'ung-ch'iao Ho) in the Tibetan Himalayas and flowing southeast into Nepal. Cutting southward across the Siwalik Hills, it splits into two branches, to rejoin south of the Indian border and form the Ghaghara proper. It flows southeast through Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states to enter the Ganges

Indo-gangetic Plain

2005-03-07T03:40:00.000-08:00

Also called North Indian Plain, extensive north-central section of the Indian subcontinent, stretching westward from (and including) the Brahmaputra River valley and the Ganges Delta to the Indus River valley. The region contains the subcontinent's richest and most densely populated areas. The greater part of the plain is made up of alluvial soil, deposited by the Ganges and Brahmaputra rivers

Gance, Abel

2005-03-06T15:14:00.000-08:00

Working in the cinema from 1909, Gance first gained recognition with his films Mater dolorosa (1917; “Sorrowful Mother,” remade in 1932) and La Dixième Symphonie (1918; “Tenth Symphony”). Influenced by the epic style of the pioneer American

Chemical Compound, Nonbenzenoid aromatic compounds

2005-03-05T16:11:00.000-08:00

Of the two, cyclooctatetraene proved more accessible.

Ancient Rome, Augustan art and literature

2005-03-05T04:46:00.000-08:00

In 17 BC Rome held Secular Games, a traditional celebration to announce the entry into a new epoch (saeculum). New it was, for, though Augustus preserved what he could of republican institutions, he added much that was his own. His Rome had become very Italian, and this spirit is reflected in the art and literature of his reign. Its greatest writers were native Italians, and, like

Epistemology, Continental philosophy

2005-03-04T10:22:00.000-08:00

The German philosopher Edmund Husserl (1859–1938) thought that the standard

Mon Kingdom

2005-03-04T01:25:00.000-08:00

Also called Hanthawaddy Kingdom, kingdom of the Mon people, who were powerful in Myanmar (Burma) from the 9th to the 11th and from the 13th to the 16th century and for a brief period in the mid-18th century. The Mon migrated southward from western China and settled in the Chao Phraya River basin (of southern Thailand) about the 6th century AD. Their early kingdoms, Dvaravati and Haripunjaya (qq.v.), had ties with the ancient

Gadsden Purchase

2005-03-03T18:21:00.000-08:00

(signed Dec. 30, 1853, Mexico City; revised treaty ratified April 25, 1854), transaction that followed the conquest of much of northern Mexico by the United States in 1848. It assigned to the United States nearly 30,000 additional square miles (78,000 square kilometres) of northern Mexican territory, now southern Arizona and southern New Mexico. Prompted by advocates of a southern transcontinental

Astrology

2005-03-03T05:50:00.000-08:00

Type of divination that involves the forecasting of earthly and human events through the observation and interpretation of the fixed stars, the Sun, the Moon, and the planets. Devotees believe that an understanding of the influence of the planets and stars on earthly affairs allows them to both predict and affect the destinies of individuals, groups, and nations.

Biblical Literature, The Wycliffite versions

2005-03-03T02:04:00.000-08:00

By the middle of the 13th century the English component in the Anglo-Norman amalgam had begun to assert itself and the close of the century witnessed a Northumbrian version of the Psalter made directly from Latin, which, because it survived in several manuscripts, must have achieved relatively wide circulation. By the next century, English had gradually superseded

Cromwell, Richard

2005-03-02T23:06:00.000-08:00

He served in the Parliamentary army and, during his father's protectorate, was a member of the Parliaments of 1654 and 1656. In 1655 he was

Anorexia Nervosa

2005-03-01T05:58:00.000-08:00

Body weight may drop to half of normal. Associated

North American Desert, Plant life

2005-03-01T03:42:00.000-08:00

In the North American Desert, available moisture is the most critical factor for life. Local environmental factors also are significant in determining the nature of desert plant communities and their dependent animal life (see video). Most desert plants are xerophytes (plants adapted to arid conditions) or phraetophytes (plants dependent on a permanent water

Ramiro Ii

2005-02-28T21:40:00.000-08:00

King of Leon and Asturias in Christian Spain from 931 to 951. The second son of King Ordoño II, he became king on the abdication of his elder brother, Alfonso IV. Ramiro was an exceptional general who scored several major victories (e.g., the Battle of Simancas, 939) over the caliphate of Córdoba in Muslim Spain. In 944 he negotiated a five-year truce with the caliph 'Abd

Huggins, Sir William

2005-02-28T07:46:00.000-08:00

Huggins built a private observatory at Tulse Hill, London, in 1856. From 1859 he was one of a number of astronomers who began to apply Robert

Military Affairs, Middle East.

2005-02-27T08:23:00.000-08:00

The situation in Israel and the Palestinian Autonomous Areas devolved into a war in all but name. Palestinian militants used small arms, mortars, and suicide bombers, mostly against civilian targets. The Israeli military used weapons ranging from F-16 fighter jets and missile-equipped attack helicopters to tank-fired flechette rounds, which contained thousands

Brill, Paul

2005-02-27T07:05:00.000-08:00

Also called Paulus Bril Flemish artist who was perhaps the most popular painter of landscapes in Rome in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. His early forest landscapes derive in style partly from Mannerism, but after 1600 he disciplined and simplified his compositions under the influence of the German painter Adam Elsheimer. His latest work was classical in character.

Daddah, Moktar Ould

2005-02-27T04:33:00.000-08:00

Of aristocratic background, Moktar Ould Daddah was the first Mauritanian to graduate

Hour Angle

2005-02-26T11:49:00.000-08:00

In astronomy, the angle between an observer's meridian (a great circle passing over his head and through the celestial poles) and the hour circle (any other great circle passing through the poles) on which some celestial body lies. This angle, when expressed in hours and minutes, is the time elapsed since the celestial body's last transit of the observer's meridian. The

Korhogo

2005-02-25T06:57:00.000-08:00

Town, north central Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast). The town's traditional founder was Nangui (Nengué), a 14th-century Senufo (Senoufo) patriarch from Kong. Modern Korhogo (Heritage) is the chief trade centre (corn [maize], manioc, millet, and yams) for the Senufo farmers of the savanna. Muslim Fulani herdsmen from the north also helped make it a major centre for livestock (cattle, sheep,

Lahun, Al-

2005-02-25T06:35:00.000-08:00

Also spelled El Lahun, or Illahun, ancient Egyptian site situated just north of the turn of the Bahr Yusuf canal into the Fayum in al-Fayyum muhafazah (governorate); it was the location of a Middle Kingdom (1938–c. 1600? BC) pyramid and of a workmen's village of approximately the same date. The pyramid, built by King Sesostris II (reigned 1844–37 BC), fourth of the eight kings of the 12th dynasty, was unusual in that the entrance to the burial chamber

Amazonas

2005-02-25T06:22:00.000-08:00

Estado (“state”), southern Venezuela. It is bounded on the north by the state of Bolívar, on the east and south by Brazil, and on the west by Colombia. The large but sparsely populated state lies within the drainage basins of the Orinoco River, which rises near the Brazilian border, and the Negro River, which is a northern tributary of the Amazon. Near the centre of the territory

Canadian Pacific Ltd.

2005-02-24T19:31:00.000-08:00

Formerly (1881–1971) Canadian Pacific Railway Company, privately owned company that operates one of Canada's two transcontinental railroad systems. The company was established to complete a transcontinental railroad that the government had begun under the agreement by which British Columbia entered the confederation in 1871. The main line from Montreal to Port Moody (a Vancouver suburb) was completed in 1885. Later the company

Kadesh

2005-02-22T15:44:00.000-08:00

Kadesh is mentioned for the first time in Egyptian sources when Thutmose III (1479–1426 BC) defeated a Syrian insurrection under the leadership of the prince of Kadesh at Megiddo in Palestine. Kadesh remained an outpost of Egyptian

Cullen, William

2005-02-22T13:41:00.000-08:00

After attending the University of Glasgow and the new medical school at Edinburgh, Cullen returned to Hamilton. He spent eight years in private clinical practice, attending without fee those too poor to

Niuafo'ou

2005-02-22T06:34:00.000-08:00

Northernmost island of Tonga, in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The generally wooded land area of 19 square miles (49 square km) includes a volcanic peak 853 feet (260 m) high, a crater lake, and numerous hot springs. During a particularly violent eruption in 1946, the island's inhabitants were evacuated to 'Eua, several hundred miles to the south. They began returning to Niuafo'ou in 1958. Because

Bharuch

2005-02-22T00:46:00.000-08:00

Bharuch was one of the most celebrated harbours in ancient India, being mentioned in the Periplus Maris Erythraei (c. AD 80) and by Ptolemy as Barygaza. It also occurs in the Hindu epic poem Mahabharata. Ruled in the 2nd century by the Ksatrapas and in the 7th

Mountain, The Alpine-Himalayan, or Tethyan, System

2005-02-21T21:53:00.000-08:00

The interconnected system of mountain ranges and intermontane plateaus that lies between the stable areas of Africa, Arabia, and India on the south and Europe and Asia on the north owes its existence to the collisions of different continental fragments during the past 100,000,000 years. Some 150,000,000 years ago, India and much of what is now Iran and Afghanistan lay many thousands of

Persian Gulf, Transportation

2005-02-21T09:45:00.000-08:00

For centuries a considerable sea trade has been carried on by local craft between the Persian Gulf and Africa and India; this has become completely dominated by an incessant traffic of large tankers that carry oil from the large marine terminals at Khark Island (Iran), Kuwait, Dhahran (Az-Zahran, in Saudi Arabia), Bahrain, Das Island (United Arab Emirates), and other locations

Cuba, Revolution

2005-02-21T07:06:00.000-08:00

Batista's fall resulted as much from internal decay as from the challenges of Fidel Castro's 26th of July Movement (commemorating Castro's failed attack on the Moncada military base in Santiago on July 26, 1953) or from the Federation of University Students and other groups opposed to Batista's rule. Castro had been a legislative candidate for elections in 1952 that were aborted

Truman, Bess

2005-02-19T23:32:00.000-08:00

Retiring to their home in Independence, the Trumans had less to do with politics than with their grandchildren and friends. After her death Bess was buried beside her husband at the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum in Independence. For his unpretentious wife, he had already specified her epitaph: First Lady of the U.S., 1945–1953.

Islam, Sacred places and days

2005-02-19T16:31:00.000-08:00

The most sacred place for Muslims is the Ka'bah sanctuary at Mecca, the object of the annual pilgrimage. It is much more than a mosque; it is believed to be the place where the heavenly bliss and power touches the earth directly. According to Muslim tradition, the Ka'bah was built by Abraham. The Prophet's mosque in Medina is the next in sanctity. Jerusalem follows in third

Joyeuse Entrée

2005-02-19T03:07:00.000-08:00

Most famous is the charter of liberties, confirmed on Jan. 3, 1356, and called the Joyeuse Entrée, which was presented to the duchy of Brabant (in the Low Countries) by Johanna

Coin, Switzerland

2005-02-19T03:01:00.000-08:00

The coinage of Switzerland illustrates its varying fortunes. First there was the gold money of the Merovingian kings, among whose mints were Basel, Lausanne, St. Maurice-en-Valais, and Sitten (Sion). The silver deniers that Charlemagne made the coinage of the empire were issued by fewer mints. The dukes of Swabia began to strike at Zürich in the 10th century, and the empire

Venetan

2005-02-17T11:21:00.000-08:00

Group of dialects of Italian spoken in northeastern Italy. It includes the dialects spoken in Venice (Venetian), Verona (Veronese), Treviso (Trevisan), and Padua (Paduan).

Kyoga Lake

2005-02-17T10:51:00.000-08:00

Also spelled Kioga Lake, lake in central Uganda, East Africa, north of Lake Victoria, formed by the Victoria Nile in its middle course. The many-armed lake is shallow, with swampy, papyrus-reeded shores; masses of papyrus are broken loose by strong winds and sometimes have completely blocked the river. Navigation for shallow-draft vessels is possible between Namasagali and Masindi Port. The

Biblical Literature, Roman Catholicism

2005-02-17T08:40:00.000-08:00

Liturgical worship in both Judaism and Christianity is an action that moves within the framework of biblical ideas and explains itself in biblical language. Preoccupied with really different views from opposite windows, Jews and Christians have often overlooked the common heritage that they share. This has likewise been true of the differences between Eastern

Baseball

2005-02-16T02:08:00.000-08:00

The Yakult Swallows of the Central League, which had won two Japan Series in the previous four seasons, defeated the Seibu Lions of the Pacific League four games to one in the 1997 postseason championship series. After a one-game-to-one tie in the two games played at the Lions' stadium in Tokorozawa, the Swallows swept the three-game series at Tokyo's Jingu Stadium, their home

Elijah

2005-02-14T21:10:00.000-08:00

Elijah was from Tishbe in Gilead. The narrative in 1 Kings relates how he suddenly appears during Ahab's reign to proclaim a drought in punishment of the cult of Baal that Jezebel was promoting in Israel at Yahweh's expense. Later Elijah meets 450 prophets of Baal in a contest of strength on Mount Carmel to determine which deity is the true God of Israel. Sacrifices are placed

Obadiah, Book Of

2005-02-14T20:07:00.000-08:00

In the book, Edom,

Earth Sciences, The theory of plate tectonics

2005-02-14T00:33:00.000-08:00

Plate tectonics has revolutionized virtually every discipline of the Earth sciences since the late 1960s and early 1970s. It has served as a unifying model or paradigm for explaining geologic phenomena that were formerly considered in unrelated fashion. Plate tectonics describes seismic activity, volcanism, mountain building, and various other Earth processes in

Xavier, Saint Francis

2005-02-13T19:42:00.000-08:00

Twentieth-century scholarship has dispelled many of the legends connected with Xavier and has also defended him against his critics. A modern estimate puts the figure of those baptized by him at about 30,000, as opposed to the 1,000,000 asserted by Baroque exaggeration. In reality he had to struggle with language wherever he worked and did not possess the gift of tongues attributed

Arabia, History Of, Arabia since 1962

2005-02-12T22:50:00.000-08:00

Political changes in Yemen and Saudi Arabia during the early 1960s epitomized a vast transformation of the Arabian Peninsula that affected the lives of most of its inhabitants. In 1962 Egyptian-trained Yemeni officers led a coup d'état and invited Egypt to send troops to support the republic. The imam's forces, although backed by Saudi Arabia during five years of war against

Plummer, Christopher

2005-02-12T20:53:00.000-08:00

Plummer made his first professional appearance in 1950 in Ottawa and spent several years performing with Canadian repertory theatre groups. In 1954 he made his New York City debut and soon attracted wide critical praise.

France, History Of, The Thermidorian reaction

2005-02-10T13:35:00.000-08:00

With control passing from the Montagnards after Robespierre's fall, moderates in the convention hoped to put the Terror and sansculotte militance behind them while standing fast against counterrevolution and rallying all patriots around the original principles of the Revolution. But far from stabilizing the Revolution, the fall of “the tyrant” on 9 Thermidor

Quincy Plan

2005-02-10T09:44:00.000-08:00

Also called Quincy Method, experimental, progressive, child-centred approach to education introduced in 1875 in Quincy, Mass., U.S., by superintendent of schools Francis W. Parker. Parker eliminated the rigid formalities of traditional school routine, arranged interrelated subjects around a central core, and emphasized socialized activities and creative self-expression. The curriculum included

Mountain, The Andes

2005-02-10T06:31:00.000-08:00

The Nazca Plate, which underlies most of the southeastern Pacific, is being subducted beneath most of the west coast of South America at a rapid rate of 80 to 100 millimetres per year. A nearly continuous chain of volcanoes lines the margin of South America, and the world's tallest volcano, Ojos del Salado (6,893 metres), is one of these peaks. The Andean range, however, is more than just

Cohen, Albert

2005-02-09T23:48:00.000-08:00

Cohen earned an M.A. in sociology from Indiana University (1942) and a Ph.D. in sociology from

Maxwell, Robert

2005-02-09T15:42:00.000-08:00

Virtually all of the young Hoch's Jewish family living in Czechoslovakia and Budapest died in the Nazi Holocaust, but he was able to make

Leaf Roller Moth

2005-02-08T21:02:00.000-08:00

Also called Bell Moth, any member of the worldwide insect family Tortricidae (order Lepidoptera), named for the characteristic leaf rolling habit of the larvae. The name bell moth arises from the shape of the adult's folded, squarish forewings. These moths are characterized by their stout bodies, small antennae, reduced mouthparts, and broad, slightly fringed wings that can expand to 25 mm

Mun River

2005-02-07T23:52:00.000-08:00

Thai Mae Nam Mun main river system of the Khorat Plateau, in eastern Thailand. The Mun rises in the San Kamphaeng Range northeast of Bangkok and flows east for 418 miles (673 km), receiving the Chi River, its main tributary, and entering the Mekong River at the Laotian border. Nakhon Ratchasima and Ubon Ratchathani are the chief towns on its banks. The river is seasonally navigable below Ubon